Students march against Chávez

Tens of thousands of students are expected to march through Caracas and other cities today in protest at Hugo Chávez's move to amend Venezuela's constitution, despite violence which has injured at least eight students.

Masked gunmen opened fire on a university campus in clashes between pro- and anti-Chávez groups in Caracas on Wednesday. The university said the government used thugs to intimidate protesters but Mr Chávez blamed the marchers. "They generally take the path of fascist violence and confront the laws and the people, and they are always looking to the Pentagon, high-ranking generals," he told a summit in Chile yesterday.

Campuses are the focus of opposition to Mr Chávez's referendum on December 2 to permit him to run indefinitely and accelerate what he terms a socialist revolution. Raul Isaias Baduel, a retired army commander and long-time Chávez ally, has joined the opposition to the draft constitution, saying it amounts to a coup.

The government called him a traitor, but the switch underlined unease among supporters as well as public opposition as registered in polls. But the same polls suggest the referendum will pass because of measures such as shortening the working day to six hours, and Mr Chávez's popularity among the poor.

Students have filled an opposition void with rallies accusing the president of Cuba-style authoritarianism.

The justice minister, Pedro Carreno, said the students were responsible for the violence. A faculty president, Victor Marquez, said that claim was a lie. "They know perfectly well where the violence is coming from. These are the ones responsible, the government's paramilitary groups."